Abstract

With a dramatic economic growth rate of 10% per year, China, as one of the Big Emerging Markets, has drawn increasing attention from both academia and industry. Its market potential and growth rate is believed to be the top attraction for global investment. In many sectors, the increasing number of options available to consumers has led to the emergence of a consumer society in China and has further fed the development of variance in consumer behaviour. This has imposed imperatives of consumer research in China, especially market segmentation research, on both foreign multinational companies and indigenous 5 manufacturers, in order i) to identify the unique needs of consumers, to provide more desirable product/service packages, and iii) to communicate brand value via more appropriate messages to targeted consumers.